For this analysis paper, I attended the Utah Art Festival on June 26 of 2015. I have attended several dance performances prior attending the Utah art festival where I attended the outstanding “B-Boy” dance. The current B-Boy dance sequences are not too much different from that of the “street” dances of late 20th century in its structure of the performance, use of body parts, especially feet, and hands. The B-Boy dance sequences have stemmed from the street dances of 1970. This dance was particularly associated with African-Americans and was not considered a respectable genre of dance. The B-Boy dance was known as “breaking-dance” before it got the attention mainstream media but the mainstream media become the major factor in changing the terminology for the street dance from “breaking-dance” to “B-boy” dance.
The b-boy dancers at Utah art festival were a small group of people, one woman, and four men. Though the group was small, the performance was outstanding because of their high spirit and energy. The high spirit and electrifying energy was energizing the audience too. The dance was the combination of a lot of different and distinctive movements, making energy blasted through speedy paced prancing, engaging facial expression, bending, jumping and explosive arms. The dance was accompanied by music, and the dance was following the ups and downs of the music.
The dancers gathered on the stage before playing the music and when the music started warming the feelings and increases the heartbeat of an audience the dancers one by one showed their dexterity in B-Boy dance. The individual dancer was quick, speedy and electrifying in his or her dance and every move of the dance was different from each other. One of the outstanding characteristics of this group of dancers was that all of the dancers were showcasing different and distinctive moves. In other words, the group of dancers while performing individually was not repeating or copying their fellow dancer and was compelling the audience with different and distinctive moves. The dance started performing individually by the dancers, but they gradually became a group of a dancer on the stage. First in the form of pairs but when the dance approaches its climax, they emerged as a group of dancers following the moves of each other. It was a great performance by the group because there was a development in the dancers’ movements, beginning, mid and climax.
The music was the integral part of the dance and was strikingly blended with the performance of the dancers. The hands were equally used to support the body on the feet. The balance in the dance despite using the hands for the purpose of balancing the body was praiseworthy, and every move was not free from using hands for the sake of supporting the body. The dance was constituted with different fragments of moves and it is definitely not an easy dance in the sense of keeping balance and not letting the energy and spirit fading away besides making moves following the rhythm of music. The intermingled different moves in this dance made it a rough and informal dance, giving the sense that the dancers are not professional. However, for the b-boy dancers were proud of being the members and performers of b-boy.
The flexibility of the dancers’ body implies them more to be a gymnastic athlete and less to be dancers because they are provided the training of gymnastic (Rajakumar 22). It was the flexibility of their body that help the in performing the dance feasibly. The dancers’ performance reflects that they have been well trained and have been performing the B-Boy dance for a long period. It was appreciable that through the dance, the dancers energy, and high spirit remained same and never faded away.
Sensation, wonder, excitement, and pride were the feelings I perceived from the dance. The excitement of the audience was because of the energy spread from dance and music. The dancers’ costume was decent, but everyone was wearing different outfits. The dance made me wonder because I never attended such a dance performance before and made me curious about knowing the theme and meanings of the dance. Every dance, every performance and music of genre stand for some meanings or a culture and therefore, this genre of music should have a meaning representing a culture or community.
The b-boy dance stands for the hip-hop music and culture and does not have specific meaning. In a way, this dance is a symbol of creativity, expression of the individual style of performance, groundwork at the same time connecting with music (Forman and Neal 47). In other words, b-boy dance is an expression of the talent and dexterity of individuals. To be a member of the b-boy Federation of or dance group means to be unique and different from others especially, from the modern and classical dancers. Furthermore, the b-boy dance provides one opportunity to demonstrate his or her identity through performance. It is why the b-boy has become a genre of music, and the b-boy dancers take pride in being associated with the b-boy dance.
I was taken aback by the dancers who were performing under the glowing sun on the hard and hot floor, but their performance did not affect by the heat. Their body movements were perfect, and every dancer was struggling hard to put meaning and emotion into every move. It is interpreted as the relationship between the dance and the music, between hand and feet and between the gaps of one movement to the other. The dance was interpreted by the music making the music for the performance. Unlike the dance, the music was slow letting the audience focus on the dancers and observing the emotions reflecting from the dancers’ performance. The dancers were very much serious in their performance of the dance, and they were charging the crowd too when performing individually. As it is mentioned above that the entire performance was outstanding, but the climax reaches when all of the five dancers come together emerging as a group and making same bodily movements. The crowd applauded with their hand in the air to appreciate the dexterity of the performers. The dancers showed off their dexterity with incredible body movement and control of the dance while making instantaneous movements (Forman and Neal).
It is concluded that the attendance of the b-boy dance at Utah Art Festival was one of the nice and memorable experiences of my life and the dance was one of the best dances I ever have attended. The performance was electrifying and satisfying. The momentum and the strength of the performers were reflected in their ability to making incessant moves with the same paced.
Works Cited
Forman, Murray and Mark. Anthony Neal. That's the Joint!: The Hip-hop Studies Reader. New York: Psychology Press, 2004. Print
Rajakumar, Mohanalakshmi. Hip Hop Dance. California: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print
